Turkey fury at Armenia genocide bill
Source: Agencies |
December 23, 2011, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
FRENCH lawmakers easily passed a measure yesterday to make it a crime in France to deny that the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 by Ottoman Turks amounted to genocide.
It was reported on Turkish state TV that Turkey, which had promised retaliation if the bill passed, would withdraw its ambassador to France.
There was no official vote count in the ballot in France's lower house of parliament, with passage determined by a simple show of hands. The measure must still be passed in the Senate, where its fate is less clear.
The measure put France on a collision course with Turkey, a strategic ally and trading partner.
Ankara reacted swiftly with state-run TV saying that Ambassador Tahsin Burcuoglu would be withdrawn. Turkey had threatened to remove its ambassador if French lawmakers did not desist and warned of "grave consequences" to political and economic ties.
Turkey vehemently rejects the term "genocide" for the World War I era-mass killings of Armenians, saying the issue should be left to historians.
It contends that France is trampling freedom of expression and that President Nicolas Sarkozy is on a vote-getting mission ahead of April presidential elections.
An estimated half-million Armenians live in France.
The bill sets a punishment of up to one year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros (US$59,000) for those who deny or "outrageously minimize" the killings by Ottoman Turks, putting such action on a par with denial of the Holocaust.
Turkey insists the killings, up to 1.5 million, historians estimate, occurred during civil unrest.
It was reported on Turkish state TV that Turkey, which had promised retaliation if the bill passed, would withdraw its ambassador to France.
There was no official vote count in the ballot in France's lower house of parliament, with passage determined by a simple show of hands. The measure must still be passed in the Senate, where its fate is less clear.
The measure put France on a collision course with Turkey, a strategic ally and trading partner.
Ankara reacted swiftly with state-run TV saying that Ambassador Tahsin Burcuoglu would be withdrawn. Turkey had threatened to remove its ambassador if French lawmakers did not desist and warned of "grave consequences" to political and economic ties.
Turkey vehemently rejects the term "genocide" for the World War I era-mass killings of Armenians, saying the issue should be left to historians.
It contends that France is trampling freedom of expression and that President Nicolas Sarkozy is on a vote-getting mission ahead of April presidential elections.
An estimated half-million Armenians live in France.
The bill sets a punishment of up to one year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros (US$59,000) for those who deny or "outrageously minimize" the killings by Ottoman Turks, putting such action on a par with denial of the Holocaust.
Turkey insists the killings, up to 1.5 million, historians estimate, occurred during civil unrest.
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